Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 2: Rebirth.
Act 1: Dark Kingdom.
Episode 12: Friends and foes.

By Razor Knight
Last update: October 7, 2010
Last edited: May 24, 2017

Usagi stood in front of the jewelry and smiled. Her 'job' had been keeping her busy lately, and she hadn't seen Naru outside school for almost one week now, so she wanted to see if her friend was okay. She looked to the side and noticed Luna was staring at the building. She was giving it that stare. "Luna, what's wrong?"

"I'm sensing something inside the building."

"Aw, don't tell me she's getting attacked again?"

"No, it's not that, but..." Luna shook her head. "Let's just go in."

The two walked in, and as soon as they did, they saw Naru walking down the stairs. There was something besides her. A cat? No, Usagi saw the 'cat' had a crescent moon symbol on its forehead. "A mooncat?"

Naru looked at Usagi in shock. "How do you know?"

Shade smiled at the other cat. "Luna, is that you?"

"Shade!"

Usagi blinked as Luna walked to the other mooncat. "You know her?"

"Of course," Luna said, "this is the Nemesian mooncat, Shade."

Usagi looked at Naru. "Nemesian? From Nemesis?" It wasn't hard for her to guess what was going on, but it was quite hard to believe it.

Naru was glad there was nobody at the jewelry right now besides them. "Mom will be back soon, so let's go to my room."

He looked down at the city and smiled to himself. He could get used to living here, after he did what he had to do. He was ready now, with some help from his father. He had a few new toys to play with, so next time he saw one of those Generals, he would have some fun.

"I guess it will be sooner than I expected," Zero said to himself as he saw a woman in a military outfit appear out of thin air. He couldn't see her clearly from the rooftop he was on, but her white hair could only mean she was... "Finally, that bitch stopped hiding," he muttered as he picked up his airboard and tossed it out of the rooftop, leaping after it.

"Damn it, it's not here either," Luminite growled to herself as she walked out of the store.

"Lost something, snow white?"

Luminite looked at the guy on the strange floating board and laughed. "Oh, this is cute. The failure comes to avenge his dead mate."

"The way I remember it, you had to tag-team with another loser to defeat her. I can beat you on my own."

"Stop bluffing, kid, you can't do a thing to me as long as I stay out of your swords' reach."

"Oh is that so?" Zero said and tossed a couple small metal spheres at Luminite. "Say 'cough.'"

Luminite was about to snap back at him, when the spheres exploded, filling everything around her with a foul-smelling gas. "Agh! Damn it, brat, now I'm going to really enjoy killing you!"

Zero wasn't too fond of fair battles, so he rushed at her, slashing her side just as she walked out of the 'smoke' cloud. "See, I've improved. You didn't even get to hit me before I made you bleed."

The woman let out a snarl and shot an energy blast at point blank range. Zero crashed on a wall and dropped to the ground. "Aww, dead so soon? I was hoping you would last a bit longer. Oh well..." She turned to leave, but then felt something stabbing through her arm, and let out a yelp.

Zero stood up and smiled at the surprised Luminite. "You took a crash course on stupidity while I wasn't looking, right?"

Luminite was rather surprised. That blast should have been enough to kill him, or at least knock him out. Either he was stronger than she had anticipated, or there was something else. Since he couldn't be underestimated, she could guess what the deal was. "Oh, I get it now. Your suit looks a bit... Different."

"You noticed? Yeah, this is not just a cloth suit, youma, its material was supposed to be resistant to magic. The guess was right, as you just saw."

"Cute, is it resistant to swords?" Luminite asked, then summoned a crystal blade. "Don't answer that, let's find out."

"Be my guest," Zero snapped and readied his two swords.

Usagi was a bit shocked at what she had just learned. Would all her friends turn out to be Senshi? "So you're one of us."

Naru nodded. "Yes, I'm Sailor Nemesis. And I'm guessing you're Sailor Moon."

Usagi smiled. "That's me."

"We Senshi know everything, huh?" Naru mused.

"What would you have said in my place?" Usagi asked.

Naru blinked at that. "Guess you're right. So, who are the other Senshi?"

"The priestess of Hikawa Shrine is Sailor Mars, and Ami is Mercury."

"Wait... Mizuno, the genius?"

Usagi giggled. "I know, hard to believe."

"Well, as a matter of fact, my clumsy, naive, lazy childhood friend Usagi is Sailor Moon. That one's harder to believe."

Usagi frowned. "Hey now..."

"Wait, who is the ninja?" Shade asked. "Is he one of the Dragons?"

"No, he's not," Luna explained, "he's fighting for a different reason than us, but he wants to stop the youma, just like we do."

"And who is he?" Naru asked.

"Terry."

Naru shook his head. "Okay, that one's not who I expected."

"Who did you think it could be, Umino?" Usagi asked.

Naru tried to imagine Umino in a ninja suit, and shook her head again. "No way."

Usagi suddenly reached her hand out, and her communicator appeared in it. "What's wrong?"

Mars' face appeared in the small screen. "Moon, I just saw another General. A female one. Zero is fighting her, but he may need help. They're a few blocks north from the shrine."

A female General? Usagi could guess she was that General, judging by Mars' face right now. "We'll be right there."

"We?" Mars asked. "I already called Mercury."

"I'll explain when we get there," Usagi said and put the comm away.

Naru looked at Usagi. "That ninja guy is taking on one of the Generals? He must be insane."

"No, he's just... She's the reason he came here in the first place," Usagi said. "I have to go now, will you help me?"

Naru smiled. "Of course. Lead the way, Sailor Moon."

Mars checked on the battle again, and shook her head. Zero was good with his swords, but Luminite had shot him several times in the last few minutes, and he was visibly slower now than he had been at first. "I know he won't be thrilled if I interrupt his duel, but... Fire Soul!"

The Fire Senshi had been extra careful to remain hidden from the two, specially from Luminite. And it paid off, as her fire blast sent a very surprised Luminite sailing back and crashing into a parked car. "What the darkness?"

Mars came out of hiding and glared at the woman. "I don't know what you're doing here, but you should leave while you can."

Zero used the distraction to recover his breath. "Good timing, Mars. But you could have helped me minutes ago, right?"

How did he... Oh right, his watch. "Sorry, I thought you wouldn't like someone interfering with..."

"With my vendetta?" Zero smirked at that. "I know I will need help beating this bitch, or I wouldn't have joined you girls."

"You won't defeat me, Zero," Luminite snapped. "Even with your new toys, you are nothing against me."

"The way I see it, I just have to make sure I aim for the neck first next time we fight."

Luminite was about to say something, but then saw a few figures in the distance. No, it wasn't worth the pain, what she was looking for wasn't here, after all. "We'll see about that, next time."

The other Senshi all came running in just as Luminite vanished. "Was that who I think it was?" Moon asked.

"Luminite," Zero said, then noticed the new Senshi, "You must be Nemesis."

"She's Naru," Moon said. That caused the others to look at her in shock. "Yeah, I know, surprised me too."

"Is there even a planet Nemesis?" Zero pondered.

"The tenth planet, Planet X, I've heard it called many names," Shade explained, "I know scientists haven't found it yet, but it's out there, far beyond Pluto's orbit."

"And who are you?"

"Name's Shade, the mooncat of Nemesis."

Zero smiled at that. "Shouldn't that be a Nemesiscat?"

"Ignore him, he's got those dumb blonde moments," Luna noted. She then looked around. "Strange. There's no traces of her draining anyone in this area."

"Luminite, you mean?" Zero said, "I noticed that, too... But I was too focused in slashing her to pieces, so I forgot to ask."

"We'll have to ask her next time we see her. Or one of her youma."

Nemesis shook her head at Mars' words. "No, the one I beat wasn't one of Luminite's youma. It was Nephrite's."

"Nephrite?" Moon asked. "So there's more than one General around?"

Mercury had been silent, but decided to speak up. She had her visor on and was looking at Zero. "What exactly is that suit made of?"

Moon hadn't really paid attention to it, but she could see Zero's suit was different. It looked the same, but it had a metallic hue. "Hey, you already got a new suit? I thought the leader was the one who always got it first!"

Zero chuckled at that. "This suit is made of a new material. Dad didn't want to tell me what it was, but he said it was called the Element Zero. A fitting material for me to use, right?"

"So other than looking different..." Mars said.

"It was tested against gunshots, fire, ice... Nothing short of a tank's shell will get through it, but I'll still feel the punch. And the little experiment I just finished tells me this suit is also highly resistant to magic."

Mercury rose an eyebrow. "Is it resistant to any kind of magic?"

"Fire Soul!" The others gasped as Mars shot Zero. The ninja was sent sailing back, but rolled as he landed, using the momentum to stand up. "Guess it is."

"Thanks for the warning," Zero muttered.

Nemesis looked at Moon. "In case you didn't still figure it out, Nephrite is..."

"Nei Furita," Mercury interrupted. At Nemesis' surprised stare, she smiled shyly. "It was an easy guess to make once I knew the name of that General."

"He's apparently targeting one single person each time," Nemesis noted, "so we should keep an eye on him. And also... I need to speak to him."

Shade looked at her. "I've told you, he's not the same..."

"You can't be sure of that."

"What are you talking about?" Moon asked.

Nemesis looked around. "Is there anywhere we can go to talk? I'm sure there will be a crowd here soon."

"Let's go to the shrine, grandpa must be sleeping right now," Mars said.

"So that's a General," Mira said calmly.

"I don't think we can take on one of them," Calisto noted. "In fact I don't know how that ninja guy managed to take a hit from her... Or from Mars."

"There's definitely more to that guy than meets the eye," Circe agreed. "It would be easier to figure out if we knew who he is."

"We can't do that," Mira said, "remember our orders."

"We were ordered not to actively research anything about the Senshi," Circe admitted, "that much I agree with. But this man is not one of the Dragons."

Calisto chuckled as she watched the Senshi walk away. "I don't know if I should be impressed or ashamed of your ability to find loopholes in our orders."

Minutes later, the Senshi were all at the shrine, now in their 'civilian' forms. Naru was just done explaining what she remembered of her past life.

Ami looked at Naru. "So you and Nephrite were in love in your past life?"

"Neir, that was his name before Beryl corrupted him."

"I didn't remember that," Luna said, "not about the Generals being human."

"That explains why they don't change into creepy monsters," Usagi noted.

"They're creepy enough as they are," Rei noted.

"Anyway, we have to stop the youma. Even if that means killing Nephrite."

"I know that, Shade," Naru said, "but maybe if I speak to him..."

"Hmph. All right, but don't forget the mission."

Terry shrugged. "Some of us have 'side quests' too. Next time Luminite shows up, I call dibs on ripping her apart."

"So much for you helping us, huh?" Rei mused.

"Any of us can try and shoot at her while she's distracted," Ami guessed.

Terry nodded. "Yeah. I think I've told you girls before, I don't really care about being the one who kills that bastard. I just want to be there to see it happen."

"I don't think they're ready to kill a General yet," Luna noted.

"If my readings aren't fooling me, they are more than capable of that already," Terry explained, "But I'm just basing this on my fight with Luminite, and she might be the weakest General. If they all fight together, they could finish Luminite, Jadeite, or maybe some of the strongest Generals."

"Do you mind explaining that?"

Terry smiled at Rei. "Let's suppose Moon is the 'one hundred mark' of the scale I've been using. Your power would be ninety-five, and Ami's would be eighty. This just measures magic power, however. You've got the best melee abilities of the three, and Ami's got her brain power."

"What about Naru?" Usagi asked.

"I never saw her fight," Terry admitted, "I can't just go wild-guessing her power."

"Wait, what about Luminite?"

"Her power's around the eighties. Jadeite's power was far closer to Moon's. I'm guessing the rest of the Generals might be stronger. But here's the trick: When there's more than one of you in a fight, your power seems to go up."

"How can that be possible?" Naru asked.

"You're supposed to be a team," Luna noted, "I know I told my group we would be stronger as we gathered more members."

Terry nodded at that, "so if I'm guessing this right, if you four team up, you could all get really close to the hundreds mark. And Usagi here would be near one hundred and fifty."

"She would get a fifty percent power increase just by us being around?" Ami asked. "That sounds unlikely."

Usagi shook her head. "He may be right. I noticed this first time he showed up. Remember when I fought at that flower shop? I didn't want to admit it, but that youma was quite hard to fight."

"We had been fighting them together for a while," Rei noted, "so when you tried to fight alone..."

"Power's not that important, though," Terry said, "I managed to hit Luminite twice today, and my own power's just above ten 'points.'"

Ami thought about it for a few seconds. "So even if one of those Generals is at, let's say, the five hundreds mark..."

"Teamwork and strategy can defeat them," Terry completed.

Ami was deep in thought for a few seconds. "But what was Luminite doing there? She didn't drain anyone."

"I heard her say 'it's not here, either' when I reached her. Maybe she's looking for the Princess?"

"I don't know, but we should be careful," Luna said, "no matter what they're looking for, we can't let them find it."

Terry had decided to walk home, as he had a couple things he wanted to think about. First was Luminite. It had been clear from their fight that she was still underestimating him. However, she was still out of his league. And despite what he had told the others, a part of him was disappointed. A part of him wanted to kill that woman, it just wouldn't do to have someone else do it for him.

The second thing he needed to think about... Yes, there it was again, he realized as he looked at his watch. He had detected these faint energy readings, first during the airport incident, and today while he fought. Whatever it was, it was following him. "You know, whoever you are, you need to work on your stealth."

There was no reply, and he noticed the direction of the reading changed. He looked around to make sure there was nobody around, then casually tossed one of his gas bombs over his shoulder, straight to the roof where he knew his stalker was hiding.

A surprised yelp was heard, followed by the pop of the bomb, and a figure leapt off the roof, falling right in front of him as he turned around. "Okay, you're no youma, and fangirls don't usually have magic auras. Speak."

Mira was shocked. He had somehow sensed her presence. He probably had known all along, and had played along until now. They had clearly underestimated this guy. "My boss is going to give us an earful for this..."

Terry frowned at that. "Boss? Who do you work for?"

Mira looked at the guy. She could easily knock him out and leave, but... They weren't supposed to make enemies out of the Senshi. "I can't tell you that, but we're not your enemies."

"If you wanted to attack us, you would have done so today, or a few days ago."

Mira flinched. He had noticed them back then as well? "We're not supposed to reveal ourselves to the Senshi, but that's a moot point now. Name's Hunter Mira."

"Hunter Mira? What do you hunt?"

"Full name would be Demon Hunter Mira."

Terry stared at her for a few seconds. "Never heard of that."

"We work from the shadows, keeping the Earth in one piece and hunting any aliens or monsters that show up."

"And you're hunting youma?"

Mira shook her head. "As long as the Senshi keep them in check, we don't need to interfere. But we'll still keep an eye on things around the world."

Terry thought about it for a moment. "I could tell the Senshi about you. You know who I am, you could find out who they are thanks to that and... I'm not quite buying your story."

"I have no means of stopping you from telling them. I am forbidden from harming a normal human being, or anyone allied to the Senshi."

"I sure am lucky," Terry muttered. "Why don't you girls just stop screwing around and join the Senshi? They could use the help."

"We... Aren't allowed to do that, either."

"Then I won't waste my time with you. Having as much power as I detect in you and not using it? It's a waste, and your 'boss,' whoever he or she is, should already know that."

Mira growled at him as he started walking away. "Hey, who do you think you are?"

"Someone who is willing to risk his life for others, even though I don't have any of that 'magic' of yours. Keep your fancy title, I'll keep on fighting."

Mira turned and stomped off, not bothering to look behind. That guy, what right did he have to patronize her? And he knew they were around, she would have to report that to the Primes, and that made her temper get even darker. "Should've left Circe do this..." She muttered as she walked out of view.

Terry had watched her go, and sighed. He wondered if Luna knew about these Demon Hunters? Should he tell the others about this? He didn't need to think about that for too long, if they didn't know and thought these Hunters were enemies... Yes, things could get ugly.

A/N: Terry sure knows how to make a girl happy. Or extremely pissed off at him, in this case.

Sentinel Proxima: Yes, that was I meant, and after re-watching that episode, I'm still not convinced it's not telekinesis. The animation fails to make it clear enough, I guess.